Micron Develops World's First 2.5" PCIe Enterprise SSD

Micron Technology, a leading maker of DRAM and NAND flash products, on Tuesday said it had developed the industry's first 2.5" solid-state drive (SSD) based on a PCI Express interface that is hot-swappable and supports enterprise server performance scalability and serviceability.

"The 2.5" PCIe SSD is a great example of how the Micron team has leveraged our NAND expertise and IP - the fundamental building blocks of SSDs - to develop high-performance, high-reliability enterprise storage solutions," said Glen Hawk, vice president of NAND solutions at Micron.

The new platform leverages Micron's P320h PCIe SSD design is based on a custom-developed Micron controller, single-level cell (SLC) NAND flash memory and is creating a vertically-integrated solution with leading-edge PCIe SSD performance. The 2.5" PCIe SSD is part of a full portfolio of enterprise-focused NAND components and SSDs, and it complements the P320h HHHL card form factor, providing Micron with multiple avenues to deliver the high-performance, high-reliability storage solutions required by demanding cloud applications like video streaming and virtual networks.

The new solution has been selected as a storage device in Dell's PowerEdge 12th generation servers. These servers use innovative, front-accessible backplane designs that accommodate 2.5" SATA, SAS, and PCIe devices, allowing the customer to choose the appropriate combination of data storage and caching devices to optimize performance and storage to suit their needs. Customers can easily configure their solutions by hot-swapping PCIe devices without powering down the server — a requirement with existing PCIe card solutions.

Micron is currently in production with the P320h HHHL card and is sampling the 2.5" PCIe solution to interested customers.